Analysis of Electrochemical Characteristics of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell at the Cathode Catalyst by Lattice-Boltzmann Method

There is a full connection between the electrochemical quantities of a fuel cell and the curves of the temperature and primary materials at the catalyst region. These quantities are strongly linked to the mass and heat transfer phenomena in the other regions. In the present paper, the lattice-Bolzmann method, as a microscale model with good computational capabilities in the problems such as the fuel cell, has been utilized to simulate the fluids flow and heat transfer in a two-dimensional cross section of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell including the channel, bipolar plate, gas diffusion layer and catalyst of the cathode and the electrochemical characteristics in the catalyst layer have been analyzed. By representing a method for estimation of the changes in the concentration along the channel, the serpentine arrangement has been modeled. The results reveal the essential role of the bipolar plate on the quantities at the catalyst layer.